May 28, 2018

Leaders Eat Last

Issue No. 386 of Your Weekly Staff Meeting salutes a summer reading recommendation, Leaders Eat Last. Simon Sinek writes, “Trust is like lubrication. It reduces friction and creates conditions much more conducive to performance.” And this reminder: click here to download free resources from the 20 management buckets (core competencies) and check out more summer reading list nominees on this webpage.

Why We Have Leaders

On this Memorial Day in the U.S., I’m launching a series of summer reading suggestions. If you missed my review of Leaders Eat Last in 2015 (a Top-10 pick), here’s your second chance. Enjoy this poignant military story.

I know. I know. In every issue, I rhapsodize about yet one more humdinger of a book. A must read. The-answer-to-all-your problems. Sorry.

But…you can blame Jerry White for this one. When Jerry and Mary White speak, I listen. I write it down. They are the real deal—and they don’t speak, write or recommend lightly. Jerry emailed me on the last day of 2014: “One of my bell-ringers this year was Leaders Eat Last, by Simon Sinek. Secular, but with such strong biblical ideas. Gen. [4 star] Kevin Chilton put me on to that book.”

So I’m torn: give you the 30,000-foot view—or entice you with a powerful story? Let’s go with the story.

The Ceramic Cup(an excerpt from Chapter 8, “Why We Have Leaders”)

I heard a story about a former Under Secretary of Defense who gave a speech at a large conference. He took his place on the stage and began talking, sharing his prepared remarks with the audience. He paused to take a sip of coffee from the Styrofoam cup he’d brought on stage with him. He took another sip, looked down at the cup and smiled.

“You know,” he said, interrupting his own speech, “I spoke here last year. I presented at this same conference on this same stage. But last year, I was still an Under Secretary,” he said. “I flew here in business class and when I landed, there was someone waiting for me at the airport to take me to my hotel. Upon arriving at my hotel,” he continued, “there was someone else waiting for me. They had already checked me into the hotel, so they handed me my key and escorted me up to my room. The next morning, when I came down, again there was someone waiting for me in the lobby to drive me to this same venue that we are in today. I was taken through a back entrance, shown to the greenroom and handed a cup of coffee in a beautiful ceramic cup.”

“But this year, as I stand here to speak to you, I am no longer the Under Secretary,” he continued. “I flew here coach class and when I arrived at the airport yesterday there was no one there to meet me. I took a taxi to the hotel, and when I got there, I checked myself in and went by myself to my room. This morning, I came down to the lobby and caught another taxi to come here. I came in the front door and found my way backstage. Once there, I asked one of the techs if there was any coffee. He pointed to a coffee machine on a table against the wall. So I walked over and poured myself a cup of coffee into this here Styrofoam cup,” he said as he raised the cup to show the audience.

“It occurs to me,” he continued, “the ceramic cup they gave me last year . . . it was never meant for me at all. It was meant for the position I held. I deserve a Styrofoam cup.

“This is the most important lesson I can impart to all of you,” he offered. “All the perks, all the benefits and advantages you may get for the rank or position you hold, they aren’t meant for you. They are meant for the role you fill. And when you leave your role, which eventually you will, they will give the ceramic cup to the person who replaces you. Because you only ever deserved a Styrofoam cup.”

YOUR WEEKLY STAFF MEETING QUESTIONS:1) Talk about the “ceramic cups” you enjoy in your present position. Are you holding onto them loosely—or with a tight grip?2) One of Sinek’s key pillars is what he calls a “Circle of Safety” in the workplace. He says work-life balance “has nothing to do with the hours we work or the stress we suffer. It has to do with where we feel safe.” So….what enriches that safe feeling in our department or organization—and what detracts from it? (The book has insights on this.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In the chapter, “Eliminate Hallway Whining” in Lessons From the Nonprofit Boardroom, Dan Busby and John Pearson note, “In the hallways of boardrooms, perhaps the most constant whine is, ‘We don’t hear anything from our CEO in between board meetings. How can I steward this ministry, if I’m not in the loop?'”

Solution!“Tool #5: CEO’s 5/15 Monthly Board Report” is a simple add-water-and-stir template, and when formatted by the CEO’s assistant, takes the CEO just 15 minutes to write—and five minutes for board members to read, each month. Presto: Communication! News! Information! Encouragement! No Whining!

Tool #5 is just one of the 16 tools in the new resource, Tools and Templates for Effective Board Governance. And...you have access to the downloadable forms.

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